Cigarette extinguishing device



Feb. 24, 1953 4 c, AMEN 2,629,387

CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHING DEVICE Filed May 1.0, 1951 l samv INVENTOR. Mclvolas C. Hmen Patented Feb. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHING DEVICE Nicholas 0. Amen, Glendale, Calif.

Application May 10, 1951, Serial No. 225,610

2 Claims.

This invention belongs to that general class of devices known as ash trays and the like and relates particularly to a cigarette extinguisher and/or snuffer. The invention has among its objects the production of a means of th kind described, or similar means, that is simple, durable and compact in structure, inexpensive to make and manufacture, dependable and efiicient in use and service, and which is convenient to remove, install, handle and clean; a device that is pleasing and attractive in appearances and very satisfactory for use whenever and wherever found applicable.

One of the principal objects is to provide a separable cigarette receiving and holding device that is designed and constructed for quickly con ducting the heat from cigarettes in contact therewith so that the fire body is cooled and hence extinguished so as to reduce fire hazards to a minimum; the results being obtained automatically without the need of any special action on the part of the smoker.

Other objects, advantages and features of this particular invention will appear from a careful perusal of the accompanyin drawings, the subjoined and detailed description, the preamble of the specifications, and the claims appended hereto.

Below, applicant describes one of the preferable forms of his invention in order to teach the art thereof and show how to make and use the same, but it is to be understood that the drawings and description thereof are not to limit the invention in any sense whatsoever except as the same may be limited by the prior pertinent art.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the invention in combination with an ash tray;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view with a portion of the tray broken away to show some parts in section;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of one of the elements employed in the invention;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of a pair of the elements abutted together.

Figure 5 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 4, but with the body parts spread apart for disposing of cigarettes.

The particular device illustrated includes the frusto-conical ash tray l' which has the inturned annular rim 2. This rim may be on any ash tray and the like and of any suitable shape, or the rim omitted entirely and the holes 3 and 4 provided upon a suitable projection or bracket, not shown.

The cigarette extinguisher itself consists of a pair of like elements 5' and 6 which have their flat sides I and 8 respectively abutted together or substantially together as clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. Since these elements are identical, whole numbers will be used for reference characters for the element 6 and the primes of these numbers used for the element 5.

The two elements are made of material having a high conductivity of heat which would include many metals of low resistance such as the common K metals which may include any of the light weight pot metals such as aluminum etc. with a suitable plating of high heat conducting material such as chromium, silver, etc. In the event advantage is not to be taken of the heat conducting characteristics of the material, then many kinds of materials may be used including the various plastics with their wonderful variety of colors.

Each element has a central dependin body portion 9 with integral end arms or trunnionlike members l0 and l I with their downwardly directed pin portions 12 and I3, respectively. The pins l2 and I3 should be spaced far enough from the body 9 so that when the pins are in their respective holes 3 and 4, the body can have free play and this will be mentioned again later. The top portion 14 of each arm is curved as shown and indicated by the reference character l5 so that two abutting arms form a rowlock-like space It for receiving a cigarette, not shown. The other end of each element has a similar construction indicated by numeral [1.

The element 6 has three cigarette receiving and/or snufier bore halves l8, l9 and 20, which when registered with the similar bore halves 2|, 22 and 23, respectively, form extinguishing pockets 24, 25 and 26. Each pocket has a borehalf portion 21, a flared top portion 28 and a reduced portion 29 which allows the ashes from the cigarette end to pass into the receptacle or receiver chamber l of the tray.

The wings or cars l'4l4' and ll-il form clips or grips for cigarettes and the like and definitely hold cigarettes even though the cigarettes may be supported far to the outer side thereof. These clips are made, as aforesaid, from metal having high heat conductivity so that when the cigarette burns to the proximity of the clips, the fire is cooled sufliciently to arrest all combustion, hence a novel cigarette extinguisher has been presented which eliminates a fire hazard. The cigarette pockets l8, l9 and 20 are for extinquishing burning butts and have holes 29 to conduct ashes into the tray receptacle. The

shoulders about the holes 29 cool the fire in the cigarettes and extinguish them. The butts are easily disposed of and made to drop into the receptacle by pressing together the ears I l-l4 or l'l-l'l so that the body portions open wide, note Figure 5, and allow the butts to fall by gravity- The holes 3 and 4 in the rim of the tray are stops in that the sides of the holes engage the pins l3 and l3.'-and arrest further outward movement. llhe elements are so shaped and mounted that they naturally bring their fiat faces 8 and 1 together by action of gravity since there is a very low center of gravity with respect to the support arms at their rest points upon the tray I. The elements are eccentrically mountedwithrB- spect to their centers of gravity so as to produce a. turning moment tending to bring their faces together.

Note, that the end projections or arms are so, shaped and formed that fulcrum portions 30 are provided so that when an operators fingers squeeze the arm tops together, the elements open as shown in Figure 5 so that cigarette butts in any of the bores 21 will fall into the chamher I of the ash tray.

It is of course, understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of form, style, design, materials and construction of the whole or any part of the specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from. the spirit thereof; such changes and modifications are considered as being within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

LA cigarette extinguishing device comprising a pair of complementary elements having flat, surfaces which are normally juxtaposed, each, element having vertically arranged spaced half-bores which form complete bores when the elements are juxtaposed, each element having an upwardly projected lobe-like portion at each end, a fulcrum pin depending beneath each lobe-like portion, the fulcrum pin pair at each end of the device being positioned to enter a hole in the top of an ash tray, the lobe-like portions at both ends of the device being flared upwardly to provide cigarette receivers and also to serve as finger grips for separating; the,- elements.

2. In an extinguisher device for cigarettes and the like, a pair of horizontally disposed juxtaposed elements, each element having opposite end projections with means for resting upon a support, the pair of elements having their common end projections flared outwardly to form cigarette holding clamps, and said end projections being formed of material having high heat conductance so as to cool the fire of cigarettes and extinguish them, the under portion of each end projection having a pin so that the device can be attached to a support having a pair of upwardly facing, remote spaced holes into which the pins enter.

' NICHOLAS C. AMEN.

REFERENCES CI'IIED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Datev 1,532,267 Pike Apr. '7, 1925 1,306,782 Brach a May 26, 1931 2,207,040 Amen July 9, 1940 2,448,105 Lynch Aug.31, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 140,244 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1920 

